The Fallen Ones (7)

Jin-hyeon’s movement as he climbed the peak like a fired arrow was so fast and fluid it made anyone watching click their tongue.

He ran as if it were a well-paved road, not a mountain path thick with trees. Since the first step of all this was meeting the Supreme Patriarch, the man he had served as a grandfather, even if only for a time, he was heated up as well.

And it wasn’t only his martial arts.

Uuuung!

Translucent blue true qi faintly lit the darkness.

Even without compressing his internal energy, Heavenly Wolf Qi flowed out on its own. It meant all of Jin-hyeon’s senses had sharpened to their peak.

His senses, raised to an unbelievable edge, even boasted a precision he had never shown before.

‘They’re waiting on both sides.’

Jin-hyeon’s Soul-Refining Color Eye swept both sides quickly.

‘Twenty-three within sixty-three meters on the left-front. Sixteen within forty-five meters on the right-front.’

This wasn’t a rough guess. He pinpointed everything, from distance to headcount.

‘And.’

Far ahead, ninety meters up, there was a hut.

And beside that hut was a master with an unusual presence.

‘The other one of the Northland Twin Demons.’

He was strong.

He was at least two steps stronger than the master he’d passed below. Even though they were both called Twin Demons, the gap was significant. With that kind of force, Ha Suk-heon alone wouldn’t even be close. At least two would need to gather to be a match.

The strongest opponent he’d met since coming back to life. But before that, there were many others he had to deal with.

Pababak!

Unnamed masters rushing in from both sides threw something black.

Thick rope. At the ends hung hooks bigger than an adult man’s palm.

Jin-hyeon swung the Indestructible Sword.

Ppeopung!

A small explosion sounded in empty air.

It was the sound of formless force detonating. The force launched by the Indestructible Sword, swung with its sheath still on, was blunt and heavy, covering a thicker, broader range than a sharp blade.

Chiririrring!

The hooks flying at Jin-hyeon bounced away in all directions.

Jin-hyeon knocked the hooks away with sword pressure alone, then covered another thirty meters.

Fast, provocative. A movement art that plainly carried the will to not care who attacked him.

Sswaeaaek!

The sixteen masters on the right, hurriedly blocking the front, threw something.

Jin-hyeon’s gaze flared.

‘Hidden weapons.’

Daggers, iron caltrops, poison needles, and more. The types were varied.

Jin-hyeon swung the Indestructible Sword again.

Pabababak! Tudududuk!

Under the heavy sword pressure, all those hidden weapons pinned into trees and earth.

One swing pushed the air in every direction. Simple, and overpowering.

‘No one.’

He wondered if there was a face he knew among the masters on the peak. At least, in Jin-hyeon’s memory, the Divine Iron Merchant House’s guards and the Swift Wind Unit were people who were clean and didn’t know backroom tricks.

If he were in danger, maybe. But he didn’t want to kill even them for no reason. That was why he’d drawn it with the sheath still on.

But from the look of it, there weren’t any warriors of the clan at all.

Pabababak!

Zigzagging left and right as he closed in, Jin-hyeon had already reached the far right end of the sixteen masters.

Startled, they each drew their double-edged swords, but Jin-hyeon was faster.

Ppeoeok! Kwadeuk!

A warrior flew without even a scream, rolling on the ground with three comrades beside him.

It was a horizontal cleaving technique. Struck by the heavy sheath, the man’s left arm and ribs were shattered to pieces.

If he didn’t know them, there was no reason to go easy. Jin-hyeon swung the Indestructible Sword quickly.

Ppeobeobeok! Kwadeuk!

The War Sword Three Arts’ One-Sword Severing the Soul, and Cross Soul-Slash followed in succession.

He showed no mercy, but he didn’t waste strength either. With sword strikes less flashy than usual yet carrying sufficient power, over ten warriors fell one after another.

The remaining warriors’ eyes shook hard.

Something flashed, and with the sound of bones breaking, comrades dropped in heaps.

They were specialists in raids and ambushes, yet they died without even displaying their own skill, felled by attacks that were like an ambush on them. And that was with terrain advantage and the perfect condition of night at their backs.

‘He’s on a different level!’

He was a master beyond everything. The gap was so severe they couldn’t even stall him, let alone match him.

Jin-hyeon’s body blurred.

Ppeobeobeobeok!

He didn’t even need to swing the Indestructible Sword. He closed into point-blank range and dropped the remaining opponents in an instant with the Ten-Fingers Soul-Slaughter Art’s Eagle Killing Strike and the Steel-Shattering Hammer.

Chaang!

The twenty-three masters on the left who came charging after them also drew their double-edged swords.

Hwaaak!

Heavenly Wolf True Qi blazed fiercely.

Koong!

With a powerful stamp, Jin-hyeon drew up his strength and swung the Indestructible Sword with the force of Mount Tai pressing down.

Pu-hwaaak!

Exposed directly to the rock-heavy sword pressure, three warriors in front spat blood and collapsed. All three had skulls caved in.

“!!”

The charging warriors faltered.

Flash!

Jin-hyeon’s gaze showing between the white hair was like a beast’s.

It was a bizarre look that stirred primal fear. The warriors’ eyes shook as if an earthquake hit them.

That brief hesitation.

Unlike them, who showed an opening one must never show in a life-and-death fight, Jin-hyeon had no opening.

Huuwoong!

Closing the distance at once, Jin-hyeon’s left palm snatched the nearest warrior’s wrist.

The startled warrior tried to pull free, but it was impossible.

Udu-deuk!

The warrior let out a soundless scream. His wrist snapped under brutish grip strength.

Shocked comrades swung their swords at Jin-hyeon.

Jjeojeong!

Double-edged swords struck by the sheath broke one after another.

At night, the Heavenly Wolf True Art raged even harder. Without even reaching Moonlit Night Unsealing, the creeping power of madness loaded fully into the sword.

Jin-hyeon grabbed the warrior whose wrist he’d broken and swung him.

Buuung! Ppeobeobeok!

He swung the man to strike the men.

In the hand gripping the broken wrist, the Heavenly Wolf Path Six-Character True Art’s Engage was being deployed. With Heavenly Wolf Engage Qi locking not only the wrist but the flow of energy as well, the captured man could do nothing.

Bung! Buuung! Ppeobeobeok! Kwadeuk!

A wide-area attack. He was literally a human weapon.

The warrior being swung by monstrous strength was stabbed by double-edged swords and smashed comrades’ limbs, becoming a wreck in moments.

Jin-hyeon’s eyes lit as he added rotation upon rotation.

Teo-eong!

As he withdrew the Heavenly Wolf Engage Qi, he unleashed Heavenly Wolf Unbind Qi and Heavenly Wolf Rouse Qi at the same time.

Unbind forcibly unraveled energy and flow. Rouse controlled force through energy vibration, making the strength vary wildly.

The warrior’s body shot out like an arrow and flew into the middle of his comrades.

Kwaddeudeuk!

“Kaaak!”

At last, a scream burst out.

Like taking a direct hit from a flying boulder, the warrior turned into a human projectile by Rouse toppled over ten comrades, then slammed into a tree. Of course, he didn’t survive.

Peok! Peobeok! Ppeoeok!

Cleaning up the remaining stragglers was easy. Moving while leaving his body to the darkness, Jin-hyeon’s motions as he cracked the remaining warriors’ skulls with the sheath reminded one of a farmer’s sickle harvesting rice.

Before long, every enemy was down.

“Hoo.”

Jin-hyeon drew a deep breath.

He killed over twenty enemies in a single breath. No matter who it was, one couldn’t avoid regulating their breathing.

‘Not bad.’

As he put down so many enemies with ease, Jin-hyeon realized anew.

‘I’m improving.’

His ability to use martial arts was rising day by day.

Even the same blade yields completely different results depending on who holds it. Jin-hyeon’s adaptability was no less than a supreme master who had established his own household.

“Ugh…”

“Ghk…”

Warriors with broken limbs or internal injuries staggered, groaning.

Jin-hyeon didn’t bother finishing them off. It wasn’t the time.

“Hup… hoo.”

After steadying his breath twice more, Jin-hyeon lightly kicked off the ground.

Paaak!

Like a Heavenly Horse taking flight with wind gathered into its body.

Jin-hyeon’s eyes, running while spilling a mystical energy, fixed on one point.

Now he could see it with the naked eye. A middle-aged man with a single ancient sword strapped on was looking down at him with cold eyes.

Jin-hyeon’s legs, which had been unfolding a smooth movement art, grew faster and faster.

When the distance to the enemy became nine meters.

Pueong!

Jin-hyeon burst forward and drew his sword with all his strength.

Chaaang!!

It was louder and cleaner than Heon Ya’s draw.

He thrust in, carrying the explosive force of the draw as it was, as if a spear as thick as a pillar were flying.

Go Ak, the elder of the Northland Twin Demons, flashed his eyes.

Hook!

He twisted quickly, drew the ancient sword, and swung. He meant to send the charging Jin-hyeon off while cutting through his torso.

Ppeoeong!

When the gust from Jin-hyeon’s Steel-Shattering Hammer struck the slope, a powerful shockwave burst.

Carried by the shockwave, Jin-hyeon’s body rose into the air and traced an arc.

Sarak!

A single shred of cut fabric drifted in the air.

Seureuk.

Jin-hyeon landed lightly and looked back at Go Ak.

Go Ak’s face was stained with considerable surprise.

“You blocked that? Impressive.”

Anyone could see he hadn’t blocked it. He’d dodged it.

But his words were true.

Pababak!

The clothes at Jin-hyeon’s side tore apart.

Thankfully, he didn’t take a sword wound, but a hair’s breadth off and sword power would have entered his organs. The Heavenly Wolf Qi, infused even into his clothing, had ‘blocked’ Go Ak’s sword blast.

“You’re younger than I expected. I thought you’d be at least my age.”

Jin-hyeon silently glanced at the hut.

The lamp inside the hut flickered uneasily.

‘Grandfather.’

He sensed a trace of presence. Supreme Patriarch Gyeong Hang was inside.

“What is this? Composure?”

Jin-hyeon looked at Go Ak.

Go Ak cocked his head.

“I’m not someone that could be handled easily just because you’ve had a bout or two. That means your grasp of life-and-death combat is exceptional, yet you turn your eyes away in front of a master stronger than you?”

“Call it composure.”

It was a flat response. Go Ak snorted.

“I’ll acknowledge that you’re skilled, at least. Martial arts stronger than Heon Ya’s at your age are truly remarkable talent. But…”

Sareureureuk.

A faint milky glow rose from Go Ak’s sword.

It wasn’t as broad as the Indestructible Sword, but its blade was fairly wide. Across that wide surface, hard-to-interpret characters were packed densely.

“Geniuses are bound to die young. They know their talent, but not their place.”

“I prefer that quite actually.”

“What?”

“Better a genius who doesn’t know his place and runs wild than an idiot who can’t even gauge his opponent’s strength.”

Go Ak’s eyes narrowed.

“Your confidence is excessive.”

“My confidence is measured to exactly what’s necessary.”

“So, what is your confidence shouting right now?”

“That a bastard who doesn’t even have the guts to attack together with his underlings is nothing special.”

“…Crazy bastard.”

“You didn’t join in to dig out my weakness, did you?”

Jin-hyeon shook his head.

“You shouldn’t have done that. You should’ve come at me together. If you had, your chance of beating me would’ve risen by at least one tenth.”

Go Ak frowned.

“I can’t listen to your nonsense any longer. If you’d put the time you spent training that mouth into martial arts, like you say, maybe I would’ve lost.”

Jin-hyeon’s mouth corner lifted.

“Can I ask one thing before we fight?”

“If it’s your last words, I’ll hear them.”

“You killed your master, right? How did you kill him?”

In an instant, Go Ak’s eyes went bloodshot.

“You insane bastard! How dare you!”

Paaak!

Go Ak flew in like an arrow and brought his sword down at Jin-hyeon’s crown, and Jin-hyeon’s Indestructible Sword rose in an arc.